UP players get last chance to impress before IPL auctions
LUCKNOW: For many, including former Team India cricketer Suresh Raina, Uttar Pradesh’s last league match in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 (SMAT) against hosts and defending champions Karnataka on Monday would be the final opportunity to impress different franchises of the Indian Premier League.
So far, the young Priyam Garg-led former champions Uttar Pradesh could win only against lowly Tripura after successive losses to Punjab, Railways and J & K in Bengaluru. They would surely be aiming to finish with a win against formidable Karnataka, who would also be looking for a victory to make it to the knockout stage after Punjab from the Elite Group A.
In fact, the only event of the curtailed domestic cricket season so far, SMAT Trophy is an opportunity for Indian cricketers to showcase their ability as only four days are left for eight IPL franchises to make big decisions on who to retain and who to release from the teams before the IPL 2021 auctions in February. Around 8-10 cricketers from Uttar Pradesh were part of different IPL teams during the 13th edition which took place at UAE
in the post-lockdown situation. But given the performance of the UP team so far, the number of cricketers from the state in IPL mix is likely to drop. Barring young vice-captain Karan Sharma, none could impress with the bat in the shortest format of the game so far. So, the match on Monday would be the last opportunity to upgrade the “image of performers”.
Team India pacer Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, who had sustained an injury during the UAE event, has now recovered fully and has already showed his fitness, as well as skills with the white ball for UP in Bengaluru. He would again be seen in action in the match against Karnataka on Monday.
The pressure of performance would certainly be on players like Priyam Garg, Shivam Mavi,
Ankit Rajpoot, Rinku Singh and Mohsin Khan. India Under-19 World Cup skipper Garg couldn’t score a single half-century and the same is the case with Singh, whereas Mavi has been bleeding runs and Rajpoot has had an average showing. Among the bowlers, Khan has been the most impressive so far, bagging four wickets in two matches. Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav and speedster Kartik Tyagi are with Team India in Australia nowadays.
The biggest question mark this year would be on the retention of Suresh Raina in the Chennai Super Kings squad at this year’s IPL. The cricketer has been a real live-wire in all departments — batting, fielding and bowling. Still, CSK hasn’t “confirmed” whether they would retain Raina.
At the UAE edition of IPL, Raina had a Rs 11 crore contract with CSK. Just before the start of the event, the southpaw came back home, citing personal reasons. As per the IPL norms, if CSK retains Raina for the 14th edition, they will have to shell out the same money. This will be Rs 4 crore more than what the franchise will be paying to India’s No 1 all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.
“CSK has to take a big call on Raina. No doubt, he has contributed a lot to the CSK’s success in past,” a source close to the CSK think-tank was quoted as saying on Sunday.
In fact, CSK is also monitoring Raina’s performance in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20. The cricketer’s performance hasn’t been “impressive” so far. The former India all-rounder has played four matches so far and, apart from an unbeaten 56 in the first game against Punjab, he has failed in most of the games.
In the match against Railways, Raina could score just six off eight balls, while against J &K he was out for a duck. His showing with the bat (unbeaten 36 off 23 balls) in the match against Tripura on Saturday gave a glimpse of his old touch, but conceding 23 runs in 24 deliveries, that too without taking a wicket, was a matter of concern.